Hopkins 4K for Cancer

July 27, 2006

Stockton, CA
78 miles (69 miles without the hill)

When we woke up in a Groveland elementary school gym this morning, some of us opted to be shuttled down a 9 mile hill of death. Apparently it was some insane percent grade downhill with crazy switchbacks. Katie R, Kaylin and I were the lead group for the day. We traveled through quiet back roads and rolling hills surrounded by vineyards and fields everywhere. At around 10:30 we had ridden 20 or 30 miles and passed a sign “Wine tasting, 1 mile, 11am.” We contemplated waiting until 11 so that we could indulge in a little vino, but with better judgment, we decided to continue on. Wine tasting probably wasn’t a good idea.

Because we were the lead group, by mile 55 we had run out of water and were quickly fading in the heat (we were told that the Stockton-San Fran area was experiencing unseasonably high temps in the 90s close to 100 degrees). Not knowing when lunch would be, we continued on, until at last Katie Y caught up to us in the van and provided us with water and power bars. Unfortunately, she needed to drive ahead to Stockton to find lunch, which meant we could either sit in the scalding heat waiting for her, or we could continue on and eat when we arrived in Stockton. We went for option B.

We kept riding through the beautiful scenery and as Katie Ross explained that we were finally going to be in civilization soon, we passed palm trees and enormous, very stinky chicken raising farms. Lord, they stunk. We had been on this quiet road for nearly 50 miles, no gas station in sight. We began praying for food and a gas station and at last, on the main road into Stockton we found one. The nice man at the cash register agreed to watch our bikes while we loaded up on free ice and soda from the fountain and sat down in the little café. We relaxed during what he called the “lunch rush” which consisted of workers buying hot dogs. After re-hydrating, we got back on the road and headed into the city.

Though we were so close to the Episcopal Church on Lincoln Rd, we knew that the other groups were at least an hour behind along with the vans. So we sat at an ice-cold Starbucks, reveling in iced coffees and lattes. I got some pizza and we told the Starbucks people all about our endeavors. They loved us and we loved them. After about an hour we saw Joe, Erin and Derick ride by, and we knew the vans would be close behind. We headed over to the church.

It was wonderful to be greeted by a community in Stockton after a few days of camping. The church was extremely hospitable. We were provided with home stays, many of which were people from the Stockton American Cancer Society. A family around the corner from the church opened up their swimming pool for all of us to swim before dinner. Thank you to them!!

During our swim it came to our attention that President Brody from Johns Hopkins University and his wife were in town and would have dinner with us and the Episcopal Church community. James and Derick did the presentation together and we tasted some of St. Ann’s special ale. So late in the trip and this was our first church stay that urged us to drink a little beer. Anyway, it was wonderful to meet the Brodys, the kind ACS members and the church community. We are grateful for the comfortable beds, delicious food and stories from survivors. We will think of them tomorrow on our last REAL riding day. It’s almost over. :(

-Nicole